---
type: Article
name: "What is A2A?"
id: "https://selfe.ai/insights/glossary/what-is-a2a"
url: "https://selfe.ai/insights/glossary/what-is-a2a"
publisher: "did:web:selfe.ai"
description: "Agent2Agent protocol, a standard for how one AI agent hands a task to another agent clearly enough that the second one can trust it and act on it."
datePublished: "2026-09-15T16:25:20.643Z"
author: The Selfe team
---

# What is A2A?

> Agent2Agent protocol, a standard for how one AI agent hands a task to another agent clearly enough that the second one can trust it and act on it.

## In short

- A2A structures how one agent hands a task to another so the receiving agent can trust it.
- It describes the task and who's asking, not whether to approve it or pay for it.

Good for: Structuring a handoff between two agents so the receiving one can trust it. Not good for: Deciding whether the handed-off task should be approved or paid for.

A general-purpose assistant often doesn't finish a job itself, it delegates part of it, "book this exact room, these dates," to a more specialised agent. A2A structures that handoff: what's being asked, on whose behalf, by which agent, so the receiving side has real grounds to act rather than trusting an anonymous instruction. It's not a payment protocol and doesn't decide whether a task should be approved, just describes it precisely enough to be trusted.

## Good for

Structuring a handoff between two agents so the receiving one can trust it.

## Not good for

Deciding whether the handed-off task should be approved or paid for.

## Act on this

- [Check whether an agent can buy from you](https://selfe.ai/agentic-commerce/buyability-check) — the free readiness scan.
- [Discover venues](https://selfe.ai/api/registry/discover) — `POST`, semantic browse across the registry.
- [Match a bookable answer](https://selfe.ai/api/registry/match) — `POST` with dates and party size.
- [Verify Selfe's identity](https://selfe.ai/.well-known/did.json) — `did:web:selfe.ai`.
- [Agent card](https://selfe.ai/.well-known/agent-card.json) — how to connect over A2A or MCP.